nyctaper | New York's live music archivist

Yo La Tengo: April 9, 2016 Landmark Loew’s New Jersey Theatre (Jersey City, NJ)

April 10, 2016

[photo via Bork Lord‘s twitter feed]

Yo La Tengo ended their most recent tour last Saturday at the shabby-chic Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre, a cavernous space made intimate by the positive vibes headed from the stage and to it. The usual contingent of longtime fans were out in force for this weekend show, and the band rewarded us with a setlist that reflected their Fade-era habit of dividing the show into acoustic and electric portions. As this tour wasn’t, strictly speaking, to promote last year’s Stuff Like That There, the band jumped around their catalog a good bit more, with the electric set a particularly sweet offering for the more improvisational-minded among us. The extended outro jam on “Before We Run” that led into the slow version of “Big Day Coming” was a strong moment there, as was the segue of “Sudden Organ,” “Autumn Sweater,” “Decora,” and “Ohm” that made up the bulk of the set. But that’s not to slight the acoustic set, either, where the acoustic treatment of “Deeper Into Movies” was particularly affecting, along with new favorites like “Rickety.” By the time the encore came around there were the usual calls for hyper-obscure covers (which the band has served up in abundance on multiple WFMU marathons), most of which were ignored, though we did get Wire’s “Too Late.” The band sent us off, as they often like to do, on a quiet note, with the noisy Electr-O-Pura classic “Tom Courtenay” rendered as a solemn coda with Georgia leading the way on vocals. Now it’s time for the band to enjoy a little downtime and recharge the batteries, as they await a handful of summer festival dates. Meanwhile, we’ll be excited for what they come up with next.

I recorded this set with a soundboard feed from Yo La Tengo engineer Mark Luecke, together with Schoeps MK41V microphones. Given the challenges of the venue acoustics, this relies heavily on Mark’s soundboard feed. The sound quality is, overall, excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [FLAC/ALAC/MP3]

Stream the complete set:

Yo La Tengo
2016-04-09
Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre
Jersey City, NJ USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Mark Luecke) + Schoeps MK41V (at SBD, PAS)>KC5>CMC6>>Zoom F8>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, re-image SBD, adjust levels, mix down, compression, limiter, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects, image)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks [Total Time 2:13:34]
Set One – Acoustic
01 My Heart’s Not In It [Darlene McCrea]
02 Periodically Double or Triple
03 Rickety
04 Automatic Doom [Special Pillow]
05 Did I Tell You
06 Black Flowers
07 Somebody’s In Love
08 I’ll Be Around
09 Deeper Into Movies
10 I Feel Like Going Home

Set Two – Electric
11 [intro jam]
12 Sugarcube
13 Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House>
14 Shaker
15 Before We Run>
16 Big Day Coming
17 Sudden Organ>
18 Autumn Sweater>
19 Decora>
20 Ohm
21 Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind
22 [encore break]
23 Drug Test
24 Too Late [Wire]
25 Tom Courtenay (acoustic)

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo, visit their website, and buy Stuff Like That There and their many other fine releases from Matador Records.

Steve Gunn: March 26, 2016 Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular, King’s (Raleigh, NC)

April 8, 2016

By acidjack

[photo by David Schwentker]

In case you live under a rock, Steve Gunn is a pretty big deal in the independent music world. Along with working with Kurt Vile, he’s released a sprawl of killer records, from his duo work with John Truscinski, to his collaborations with Hiss Golden Messenger, Mike Cooper and the Black Twig Pickers, to his work with GHQ, to his singer/songwriter solo work. There is no version of Steve Gunn that isn’t great, that isn’t able to worm its way into your brain and stick there, and maybe make you think in the process.

Like Bardo Pond, Gunn is another artist that Three Lobed Recordings has been aligned with for a long time, and the fact that Steve would take the stage twice at the Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular, in celebration of the label’s sixteenth anniversary, says what you need to know about his commitment right back. If (as it would seem) Gunn will prove to be one of the Three Lobed alumni with the greatest popular appeal, it won’t be because he’s abandoned the spirited, inventive and challenging style of playing that early fans have always cherished. The proof of that lies in this single set from King’s, as Steve closed out the morning portion of the day with just three long songs. Sure, “Old Strange” is a bit easier to hum along to than GHQ’s “Four Trees,” but it’s still fifteen freaking minutes long, as played here, with the lyrics and the chorus almost afterthoughts amidst the guitar work that almost makes you forget there’s just one of him up there. That doesn’t discount one of Gunn’s other most-loved and longest epics, “The Lurker (Extended),” which graced the Not the Spaces You Know, But Between Them boxed set on Three Lobed, and arrived in stunning form here. He closed with “Mr. Franklin,” another relatively uncommon number in his current tour repertoire, and readied himself for the second half of this day, when he would join John Truscinski for their first duo set in several years (that recording coming soon).

You owe it to yourself to hear where Steve is going next — preorder Eyes on the Lines here, and check out the new single “Conditions Wild” on YouTube.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the other recordings from the day, with Schoeps MK22 open cardiod microphones onstage, MBHO microphones in the audience, and a multichannel soundboard feed from Justin Perrachon. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the complete show:

Steve Gunn
2016-03-26
Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

2x Soundboard channels (engineer: Justin Perrachon) + MBHO 603a/KA200N (FOB, DFC, PAS) + Schoeps MK22 (onstage, ORTF, DFC)>KC5>CMC6>Aeta PSP3 >> Zoom F8>6x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro-Cory Rayborn and Steve Gunn]
02 Old Strange
03 [banter/tuning]
04 The Lurker (Extended)
05 [banter/tuning2]
06 Mr. Franklin

SUPPORT Steve Gunn: Website | Three Lobed Recordings | Paradise of Bachelors | Pre-Order the New Album

Faust: March 30, 2016 Market Hotel

April 6, 2016

By EricPH

[photo by Peter Cauvel]

Difficult. Inscrutable. Brilliant. Faust’s current U.S. tour is leaving concertgoers baffled in every city they’ve visited. Those expecting to hear the greatest hits, a complete performance of Faust IV, or even something simply coherent might be disappointed. But those of us open to the experience, a “happening” as Jean-Hervé Peron calls it, were rewarded with a unique set from the krautrock legends. The band graced us with three local stops on their tour, with one show in Jersey City at WFMU Monty Hall and a two-night stand at Market Hotel. We caught the last of those and it’s really something.

Jean-Hervé Peron is less frontman and more mouthpiece or director of the group, which also includes original member Werner “Zappi” Diermaier, Maxime Manac’h, and Pas Musique. The loose collective has been going since 1971 and surprisingly for a band celebrating 45 years, the past isn’t its focus. After securing blankets for the knitting ladies in front of the stage—and yes, that is a consistent feature of Faust shows on this tour—the band opens with an at least partly improvised drone that segues into the most krautrock-y song they’ll play the entire evening, “Fresh Air.” If you’re timid or maybe approaching Faust for the first time, this track is the place to start. Next is noise-improv and Dadaist poem, “Harlekin,” followed by a song called “Chlorophyll” (probably). “Partitur” is the crowd-participation part of the evening, where all leave the stage save for Zappi on drums, who orchestrates the graphic score. “Tell the Bitch to Go Home” is from a more recent Faust album, Something Dirty, while “Lass Mich” is from the band’s collaboration with Nurse With Wound. “Listen to the Fish” is another latter day Faust classic and then Peron encores with a solo performance of “Cendre” (again, probably). I have to admit that not all made it through to the end of this challenging set. But no one can deny that Faust is a singular band and anyone there to witness this performance won’t soon forget it.

I recorded this set with our installed Audio Technica 4051 mics and a board feed from Market Hotel FOH Jason. The quality is excellent. Enjoy! (Please note: at the band’s request this is offered for streaming only.)

Stream the complete show:

Faust
2016-03-30
Market Hotel
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Jason) + AT4051 > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, compression, mixdown, normalize, fades) + Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ) > Audacity 2.0.5 (downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (16/44.1, level 8)

Tracks [1:12:57]
01. [Intro]
02. Drone
03. Fresh Air
04. Harlekin
05. Chlorophyll
06. Partitur
07. Tell the Bitch to Go Home
08. Lass Mich
09. Listen to the Fish
10. [encore and band intros]
11. Cendre

Support Faust: Website | Buy Tony Conrad With Faust, Outside the Dream Syndicate via Superior Viaduct

Bardo Pond: March 26, 2016 Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular, King’s (Raleigh, NC)

April 6, 2016

By acidjack

[photo by David Schwentker]

Sixteen years ago, longtime rabid music fan and newly minted law student Cory Rayborn came up with an audacious, maybe even ridiculous idea: He would press a ten-inch containing some unreleased Bardo Pond material and sell it for money. Anyone who knows much about the economics of record labels, or the vagaries of vinyl production — especially in the vinyl-challenged year 2000 — knows that usually translates to “lose a bunch of money and piss off a bunch of customers in the process.” But a funny thing ended up happening: First there was that Bardo record, Slab, of which the 500-LP run would go on to sell out. Not but another couple releases in came Purposeful Availment, an 8-CD series that also featured Bardo Pond. Then there was TLR-012, an LP of Bardo Pond playing with Tom Carter, followed in short order by the Cypher Documents CD. Then another CD series, Modern Containment, found Bardo back on Three Lobed, with their Adrop CD. There are more than ten others since, right up to 2014’s Shone Like A Ton and Refulgo releases and their contribution to the Parallelogram series last year. Out of Three Lobed Recordings‘ 117 total current releases, the Philadelphia-based band makes up not only the largest percentage of the label’s releases, but they’re the label’s original reason for being.

Since that first 10″, Three Lobed has grown, but its original mission hasn’t changed. The label has kept things willfully weird, releasing everything from Bardo Pond’s feedback-soaked psychedelia to the drone/free jazz sounds of Glacial (Lee Ranaldo, David Watson and Tony Buck), to the Parallelogram contribution from Alan Bishop, Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano, capped with its brain-damaged cover of Cream’s “Politican,” to the delicate guitar work of Danny Paul Grody, to his work with Hiss Golden Messenger and Steve Gunn. Both the Three Lobed name and its iconic logo suggest not just an expanded but an integrated, functioning mind, and at the root of all those seemingly disparate releases has been Rayborn’s, a font of curatorial taste. In his mind, all of these radically different sounds belong together, and in his presentation of them, he connects the dots.

So it meant a great deal, to Rayborn personally and to the followers of the Three Lobed experience, for Bardo Pond’s evening set to close out the marathon of music that was the “Sweet Sixteen Spectacular,” and for them to do with a sprawling, career-spanning set that represented their first return to North Carolina in thirteen years. “Kali Yuga Blues” began the night, with Isobel Sollenberger’s moan floating above the guitar haze. After another Peace on Venus number the setlist went twenty years back to 1996’s Amanita for “Be A Fish” before hurling into what may have been the first live performance of their Parallelogram contribution, “Screens for a Catch (Fur Bearing Eyes)”. Along with four new songs, the band threw in one of the very oldest — “Absence” from Bufo Alvarius — followed by another older number, “Straw Dog,” from Lapsed. Drug references by the band are as prolific as its catalog, and by this point in the evening, even the sober among this crowd had probably lost their sense of time. The set’s, and the night’s, spiritual peak came during the new song “Moment to Moment,” a twelve-minute deep dive into the band’s vision, with each of us led through the deep bed of guitar by Sollenberger’s flute, her voice howling ahead into the void.

There was no encore, but one wasn’t needed after the last song, “Tommy Gun Angel,” whose lyrics about rejoining the primordial ooze, melting away like the snow, gave a long-eyed perspective to the proceedings. Every little contribution makes up part of a larger one, a few more positive ions added to the charge of existence. You never know where a dorm room dream like putting out a ten inch record for one of your favorite bands might take you. It might end up something just for you and the smallest group of friends. Or it might be something great.

I recorded this set with four soundboard channels from King’s engineer Brad Womack, together with Schoeps MK22 microphones onstage and MBHO microphones hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. Save for a one-second glitch during the first song, the sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the complete show from its page on the Live Music Archive: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Stream the complete show

Bardo Pond
2016-03-26
Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

4x Soundboard channels (engineer: Brad Womack) + MBHO 603a/KA200N (FOB, DFC, PAS) + Schoeps MK22 (onstage, ORTF, DFC)>KC5>CMC6>Aeta PSP3 >> Zoom F8>8x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Kali Yuga Blues
03 Taste
04 Be A Fish
05 Screens for A Catch (Fur Bearing Eyes)
06 Two Planes
07 [banter]
08 Crossover
09 Out of Reach
10 Absence
11 Straw Dogs
12 Pine Trees
13 Moment to Moment
14 [tuning]
15 Everyman
16 Tommy Gun Angel

SUPPORT Bardo Pond: Website | Three Lobed Recordings | Fire Records

the Mountain Goats: April 2, 2016 College Street Music Hall, New Haven CT

April 5, 2016

By nyctaper

[photo by @octagoneyes]

The Mountain Goats‘ current tour is called the “Brine Crypt Exodus” and it was inspired by a very special night last April when the band played a show at City Winery with a pared-down stage show. While not quite “unplugged”, the set stripped down the Mountain Goats to the basics and the result was an incredible inspired set that we were very fortunate to have captured.

The second night of the tour reached New Haven Connecticut on Saturday night in a fairly large theater in the center of town. The College Street Music Hall sits about a half block from the south border of the campus of Yale University and its in the “theater district” — indeed the location was not even a rock venue until May of 2015. The result of the recent upgrade of the facility is that the hall is outfitted with a customized state of the art sound system and prime seating configurations that compliment the acoustics and classic charm of the vintage theater. We agree with the person on our twitter feed that College Street is one of the best locations in the tri-state area to experience a concert.

With that backdrop and with the opening night of the tour (Woodstock) under their belts, the Mountain Goats began this show inspired and fully in sync with each other. The band is currently a quartet and each member shined throughout this night. The addition of multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas permits the band to add keys, horns or an extra guitar to fortify the sound. Jon Wurster on drums and Peter Hughes on bass are simply one of the best rhythm sections around these days. Since this tour is technically not in support of any new release, the Mountain Goats also felt unfettered when it came to song selection. As a result, the setlist was culled from the deep recesses of the back catalog and we saw songs we’d never experienced before in our two dozen Mountain Goats shows.

The Mountain Goats will return to NYC later this month for three shows at the City Winery, where they played to great success last year. The shows are all sold-out but if by chance a ticket falls your way, don’t miss these nights.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards mounted inside of the soundboard area and blended that capture with a soundboard feed mixed expertly by long-time touring FOH Brandon Eggleston. The sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show in FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE]

Stream the Complete Show:

Mountain Goats
2016-04-02
College Street Music Hall
New Haven CT

Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard [engineer Brandon Eggleston] + Schoeps CCM4u Cardioids > Sound Devices 744t > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3/tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:31:32]
01 Woke Up New
02 Until I Am Whole
03 Maize Stalk Drinking Blood
04 Damn These Vampires
05 See America Right
06 Sometimes I Still Feel the Bruise [Trembling Blue Stars]
07 Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan
08 [banter – sketches]
09 You’re in Maya
10 [banter – whatever you want]
11 From TG and Y
12 [banter – TRAP laws]
13 Wizard Level
14 Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace
15 [banter – Holiday Inn Express]
16 Get Lonely
17 New Monster Avenue
18 [banter – wonder buddy]
19 First Few Desperate Hours
20 Oceanographer’s Choice
21 The Young Thousands
22 [encore break]
23 No Children
24 Up the Wolves
25 This Year
26 [second encore break]
27 Spent Gladiator 2

SUPPORT the Mountain Goats: Website | Twitter | Buy Official Releases | Tour Dates

NYCTaper Upcoming Schedule: Spring/Summer 2016

April 4, 2016

By nyctaper

Its been over three months since we last posted a schedule, so here is the latest. A lot of great additions, including a whole new set of shows at our home venue Market Hotel.

Caveat: Below is the updated schedule. We expect to attend and record these events. However, circumstances will prevent some of these from being done, and others will be added in the meantime. Feel free to make suggestions or point out shows we missed or invite us to your shows!

Schedule:

Acid Mothers Temple:
April 5, 2016 Mercury Lounge NYC

Acid Mothers Temple:
April 6, 2016 Knitting Factory BK

River Cult:
April 8, 2016 Acheron BK

Yo La Tengo:
April 9, 2016 Loew’s Theater, Jersey City NJ

Waco Brothers:
April 13, 2016 Union Hall BK

Melvins:
April 14, 2016 Music Hall of Williamsburg

the Mountain Goats:
April 17, 18, 19, 2016 City Winery NYC

Ryley Walker & Charles Rumback:
April 20, 2016 Union Pool BK

Surface to Air Missive:
April 21, 2016 Trans-Pecos Queens

The Thermals:
April 28, 2016 Market Hotel BK

Thurston Moore:
April 28, 2016 Rough Trade BK